In the related art, a sunroof apparatus disclosed in JP 2012-153335A (FIGS. 9A and 9C) (Reference 1) is known. The sunroof apparatus is configured to have a support bracket that supports a movable panel, a guide rail that extends on the roof of a vehicle in the front-rear direction, a driving shoe that is driven to move along the guide rail in the vehicle front-rear direction, a front-side link, a front-side guide member, a check member, a rear-side link, and a rear-side guide member. The front-side link is linked rotatably to the front portion of the support bracket and engaged with the driving shoe. The front-side guide member is fixed to the guide rail, controls rearward movement of the support bracket and the front-side link, in the vehicle, when an amount of the rearward movement of the driving shoe with a completely-closed state of the movable panel as a starting point is a first predetermined amount or less, and guides the front portion of the support bracket and the front portion of the front-side link to be lifted together when the amount of the rearward movement of the driving shoe exceeds the first predetermined amount. When the amount of the rearward movement of the driving shoe is a second predetermined amount or greater, which is greater than the first predetermined amount, the front-side link is engaged with the driving shoe such that the front-side link and the driving shoe integrally move rearward along with the support bracket.
When the amount of the rearward movement of the driving shoe is less than the second predetermined amount, the check member engages with the driving shoe such that the check member and the driving shoe integrally move rearward and when the amount of the rearward movement of the driving shoe is the second predetermined amount or greater, the check member disengages from the driving shoe. The rear-side link is linked rotatably to the check member and slidably supports a portion rearward from a link portion to the front-side link of the support bracket in the vehicle front-rear direction. The rear-side guide member is fixed to the guide rail and guides the rear-side link to tilt such that the rear portion of the support bracket is lifted when the amount of the rearward movement of the driving shoe is the first predetermined amount or less.
In this configuration, when the driving shoe moves rearward in an amount of the movement equal to or less than the first predetermined amount in the completely-closed state of the movable panel, the check member and the rear-side link move rearward along with the driving shoe, and thereby the rear-side guide member guides the rear-side link to tilt such that the rear portion of the support bracket is lifted. In the support bracket, the rear portion is lifted with the front portion, of which the movement is regulated by the front-side guide member, as a fulcrum center, and the movable panel is tilted up.
In addition, in the tilted up state of the movable panel, when the driving shoe moves further rearward and the amount of the movement becomes the second predetermined amount or greater, the driving shoe and the check member disengage from each other and the driving shoe moves rearward along with front-side link and the support bracket while the check member and the rear-side link remain at their positions and an opening operation of the movable panel is performed such that the movable panel is in a wide-open state. In a range of the amount of the movement of the driving shoe from the first predetermined amount to the second predetermined amount, the front portion of the support bracket and the front portion of the front-side link are guided to be lifted by the front-side guide member such that the regulation of the rearward movement of the support bracket and the front-side link is released.
Incidentally, in Reference 1, the driving shoe and the rear-side guide member are disposed at different positions from each other in the width direction when viewed in the vehicle front-rear direction, which results in an increase in the size of the guide rail in the vehicle width direction.
Meanwhile, the present inventors have examined a disposition of the driving shoe and the rear-side guide member which are to be overlapped with each other at a position in the width direction when viewed in the vehicle front-rear direction. However, in this case, the driving shoe and the rear-side guide member are required to be shifted in the vehicle height direction such that the amount of the required rearward movement of the driving shoe is not limited by the rear-side guide member, which results in an increase in the size of the entire apparatus in the vehicle height direction. In particular, a single guide hole of the driving shoe that engages with a guide pin of the front-side link functions to allow the rear portion of the support bracket to be lifted up and lowered and to cause the front portion of the support bracket to be lifted up and lowered and then to move integrally in the vehicle front-rear direction. Therefore, the size required for the guide hole is added in the vehicle height direction, and thus the driving shoe itself is increased in size in the vehicle height direction. Therefore, the entire apparatus has a still more increased size in the vehicle height direction.